Diaper



March 19, 1963 H, v, BROQKS ETAL 3,081,772

DIAPER Filed April 6. 1960 MHH/A United States Patent O 3,081,772 DAPER Hallie V. Brooks and Virginia A. Brooks, Sherman Oaks, and Josephine M. Fusliie and Mariano N. Fuslrie, Studio City, Calif., assignors te Mity-Didy Corporation, Studio City, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Apr. 6, 1960, Ser. No. 20,400 1 Claim. (Cl. 12g- 287) This invention relates to a diaper and has for an object to provide a diaper of novel and improved construction facilitating application to and removal from operative position; ease of connection and separation of the connected portions without use or pins or like dangerous Ifasteners and providing automatic adjustability; re-use over a long period of time without the need for laundering but, rather, cleaning by wiping with a damp cloth; embodiment of a disposable moisture-absorbing insert pad with means to locate the same against inadvertent displacement; and, generally, so forming the diaper for maximum comfort in use in a high back and low front design that is maintained in use by the built-in fastener means of the diaper.

Our invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceabi-lity.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a front view, partly arranged in its operative form, of a diaper constructed according to the present invention, a portion being `broken for clearer illustration.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are enlarged and broken cross-sectional views as taken on the respective lines 2 2 and 3-3 of FIG. 1.

The diaper that is illustrated comprises, generally, a at body 5, a ridge 6 provided in the middle portion of the body, a disposable absorbent pad 7 located in the space surrounded by the ridge, and permanent and universally adjustable fastener means 8 for separably connecting the sides of the body around an infant in the desired protective manner.

The body is preferably made of two plies of plastic and liquid-impervious sheet material. Rubber hydrochlorides or comparable synthetic rubbers that resist deterioration, particularly under human acid and wetting conditions, are preferred. The two plies may be fused together along the marginal edges of the body, but otherwise left unconnected for maximum pliability.

The present body 5 is lformed to have a back edge 10, a front edge 1l, an intermediate reduced portion 12 at which the body is bent around an infant to form a back 13 and a front 14, and wing portions 15 on the back 13 and yfoldable on lines 16 into superimposition on the upper corners 17 of the front. Folded in this manner, the body forms leg openings 18 that are of ample size particularly because the front and back portions of the body are wider, as shown, than the intermediate portion 12.

The ridge 6 is provided partly in the front and partly in the back of the body 5, the same having a generally hour-glass form because of the mentioned narrow intermediate por-tion 12 of the body. Said ridge is formed by a plastic strip 19 that is confined in ring-like channel 29 3,981,772 Patented Mar. 19, 1963 ICC [formed between the plies of the body, the plies being sealed or fused together around the inner and outer edges of the channel to hermetically seal in the strip 19. The latter may be made of expanded vinyls of polyvinyls to have a spongy consistency, be generally odorless and resistant to deterioration, especially in a moist atmosphere. As can be seen from the drawing, the ridge 6 is easily foldable and, therefore, will conform to the bends and drapes of the body during use of the diaper.

The disposable pad 7 constitutes a liner and is shaped to -t within the connes of the ridge 6 and to be located thereby. A laminated cellulosic pad may be used for this purpose because inexpensive, highly absorbent and non-chang or -irritating to infants skin. The pad has a cellular structure that renders it soft and pliable. The same may have notches 21 that expose vent holes 22 provided in the diaper body.

The fastener means 8 is not only safe and fast to operate, but is also universal in its application, first, to provide proper tit of the diaper on an infant according to size, and, second, to insure such a variable tit and provide for the back edge 1t) of the diaper to be higher than the front edge 11. This desirable arrangement cannot be obtained by hooks and eyes or but-tons, because the same have a xed location regardless of the adjusted size of the diaper, nor is it desirable to provide for such an arrangement by using pins or other unsafe means.

The present fastener means 8, being universally adjustable, the purposes of the invention respecting a high back and a low front fit may be effectively achieved.

In the present case, the means 8 is shown :as a tape 23 at the outside of each corner 17 of the diaper front and provided on its face with a ilocculent surface,l and matching tapes 24 on the inside of the body wings 15. The latter tapes are provided with a multiplicity of plastic hooks that, when pressed downward on the flocculent sunfaces of the tapes 23, snag thereon with sufficient grip to effect a firm connection between the matching tapes. Separation is eifected by peeling one tape away from the other.

It `will be noted that one of the matching tapes-the tape 24 of each pair thereof-is disposed at an angle to the other tape and that the angle is such that, with the diaper body folded, as in FIG. 1, the line of fold 16 for the wing 15 bisects the angle formed by the tapes. As a consequence, when the wing 15 is folded over onto the diaper corner 17, the two matching tapes fall into register, as shown at the left in FIG. l. Some misalignment may occur, but the matched tapes will eectively connect and close up the diaper around the body.

The described angular relationship between the matched connecting tapes 23 and 24 on each side of the garment insures that the same, in operative position, has a high back and a low front.

While we have illustrated and described what we now contemplate to be the best mode of carrying out our invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modilication without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention. Therefore, we do not wish to restrict ourselves to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but desire -to avail ourselves of all modifications that may fail within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A diaper comprising an elongated fbody of plies of moisture resistant plastic material shaped to provide a front portion and a back portion higher when on the wearer than said front portion, said front and back portions being connected by an intermediate portion of reduced width, the width of the back portion being such that the upper edge of the back pontion may be wrapped around the waist of the wearer and secured at a downward angle to the upper edge of the :front portion, an inwardly projecting ridge of hourglass conguration provided by a strip of resilient material located between the plies of plastic material, the edges of the strip being closest at the intermediate portion of the diaper body and the plies being sealed together around the edges, a pad of absorbent material shaped to tit within said inwardly projecting ridge and provided with notches at its upper edge portion and aligned Ventilating openings through the body communicating with said notches, and lengths of tape having releasably adherent surfaces secured flat upon the inside surface of the back portion adjacent the corners of the upper edge thereof and sloping downwardly and inwardly on the back portion, and lengths of similar tape secured at upon .the youtside of the front portion adjacent the corners of the upper edge thereof, the tapes, when the adherent surfaces thereof are pressed together, maintaining the back portion of the diaper higher on the wearer than the front portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,756,508 "Bersin Apr. 29, 1930 2,450,059 Rickerson Sept. 28, 1948 2,500,432 Ravkind et al Mar. 14, 1950 2,714,889 Chambers Aug. 9, 1955 

